DEER SPRINGS: Invention gives access to three emergency radios at once

Device expected to improve communications during wildfires

By DAN SIMMONS - Staff Writer | Sunday, August 31, 2008 6:41 PM PDT ∞

DEER SPRINGS ---- Its inventor, Deer Springs Fire Safe Council member Steve Kerrin, described the briefcase-sized silver contraption modestly as "three radios in a box."

But the Emergency Monitoring Station has been lauded by others as a tool that could significantly improve communications during wildfires and other emergencies.

"They've really created something terrific," said Rich Barnett, president of Massachusetts-based Scanner Master Corp. and a consultant in the scanner radio industry. "I think the idea of being able to have this device in an emergency, pick it up and run with it and be able to know what's going on ---- that's invaluable."

Kerrin mentioned the device to Barnett while buying new scanners for the fire district. Barnett had never seen a similar device, he said. He was so impressed that he decided to partner with Kerrin and add the device to the company's product line.

The box holds up to three emergency scanner radios, allowing users simultaneously to listen to communication of local, state and federal agencies that often converge on this region during wildfires. One person with a well-tuned ear can listen to all three, or different people can plug in headphones to monitor each, Kerrin said.

It's able to run on electricity, battery or through a cigarette lighter in a car, and has four to six hours of reserve power. It can be "clamshelled" up and moved if necessary during evacuations.

The invention was borne out of last fall's wildfires and frustration with single, handheld scanners, said Craig Cook, president of the Deer Springs Fire Safe Council.

"We were picking up so many bands it was very difficult to understand who was talking and where they were talking," he said.

The council became determined to improve on it. Cook pitched an idea to develop a multi-scanner device. Kerrin, a 50-year ham radio operator, did the design and electrical work.

"We knew we wanted three radios and I went out looking for a box that would fit them," he said.

The device will give council members instant access to all the latest information during wildfires, he said, and allow them to relay that information quickly to residents of the 47-square-mile district.

The council operates its own Reverse 911 system with about half of the district's approximately 5,000 residences on the list, Cook said. Safety officials rely on emergency radio traffic to monitor the status of fires and firefighting, and the new devices will give them "redundant redundancies" in communications, Kerrin said.

The invention comes in the wake of June's announcement that the council was named 2008 Fire Safe Council of the Year in San Diego County. The county is home to 80 fire safe councils, about a third of the total statewide, said Kathy Howard, coordinator for the councils in the northern half of the county.

She said that the Deer Springs council had worked many projects to improve fire-prevention and safety efforts.

"They really have done an outstanding job organizing themselves and working with partners," she said.

Contact staff writer Dan Simmons at (760) 740-5426 or dsimmons@nctimes.com.

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